One interesting American thing (a technical term, meaning a moment or event, a text, a controversy, an idea, a figure, or whatevertheheckelse I think of) per day, from Ben Railton, a professor of American literature, culture, history, and, natch, Studies.

MyAmericanFuture

MyAmericanFuture

Friday, May 12, 2017

May 12, 2017: The Scholars Strategy Network and Me: Boston March for Science

[Last week, I
had the chance to attend a national meeting of the Scholars Strategy Network, a
vital public scholarly organization of which I’ve been a
Member for almost four years. So this week I wanted to share a few sides to
my work with SSN, leading up to a weekend post on that national meeting and
SSN’s expanding role in Trump’s America!]

1)Science and Activism: In the initial stages of
conversation about the national
(Washington) March for Science, of which the Boston March was an off-shoot,
a number of scientists
expressed concerns about being perceived or defined in any way as partisan
activists. I understand those concerns, but as I argued in my recorded video,
the truth is that American naturalists and scientists have pursued concurrent
and interconnected public activisms throughout our history. Moreover, those
activisms have never been, and I would argue are not now, partisan or political
in any narrow sense; instead, these are public arguments for the roles that
knowledge and investigation can play in support of the common good. While I don’t
believe all scientists have to link their research to such collective
arguments, I think each and every one has the right to do so, and that the more
who do, the stronger our society will be. I felt that strength on April 22nd
to be sure.

2)Scientific Community: I also felt there the perhaps
underrated importance of science as a communal endeavor. That is, our
narratives of science sometimes portray it—as I wrote in this
post on our images of individual inventors—as the solitary pursuit of
iconoclastic geniuses. Such individuals certainly have always played a role,
but, as I argued in that post, any lasting and meaningful scientific invention
or innovation takes a village to complete and sustain. The Boston March for
Science featured a number
of interesting speakers who shared a wide variety of perspectives and experiences,
but a central thread across all of the speeches that I had the chance to hear
was the importance of the scientific and social communities in which these
individuals had pursued their work. And the March itself, of course, embodied
another such inspirational scientific and social community, one only temporarily
gathered in the same physical space but committed to a more enduring sense of
solidarity among all the participants and their respective institutions and
cohorts.

3)Supporting Science: That communal spirit
certainly offers one important way in which we can all support scientists and
their work. But equally vital, and a significant part of the motivation for
holding a March for Science in 2017, is public, governmental support for the
sciences. I don’t imagine I need to tell any readers of this blog about the
deep, distressing cuts
to scientific funding in President Trump’s first budget—most of them just
proposed at this point, making it all the more important to highlight and
challenge them. But it’s also important that we confront the gradually
eroding public consensus on the value (and unfortunately even
the most basic truths) of scientific inquiry and knowledge, a long-term
trend that predates Donald Trump and can’t be addressed simply by resisting those
proposed budget cuts. The March for Science participants were, of course, a
self-selected group of those who do believe in and support the sciences;
finding ways to broaden and deepen those attitudes as we move forward must be a
vital goal for all of us.

Special post
this weekend,

Ben

PS. What do you
think? Thoughts on SSN, or other organizations or efforts you’d highlight?

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#NoConfederateSyllabus

In response to the controversy over HBO's proposed show Confederate, Matthew Teutsch and I have collaborated on #NoConfederateSyllabus, a Google Doc that you all can contribute to as well. Check out an intro here: